Rome, Treaty of

French–Italian pact in which some Middle Eastern territory changed hands.

In an effort to obtain Italy's support against Nazi Germany, France's foreign minister Pierre Laval signed the Treaty of Rome with Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini on 7 January 1935. France conceded small amounts of land in North and East Africa to Italy and, according to some accounts, the negotiations involved an unwritten pledge by Laval to support Italian claims in Ethiopia. When World War II began in 1939, Italy was allied with Germany, and Germany occupied France, so prewar agreements were negated or renegotiated.

Bibliography

Hurewitz, J. C., ed. The Middle East and North Africa in WorldPolitics: A Documentary Record, 2d edition. 2 vols. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1975–1979.

Taylor, A. J. P. The Origins of the Second World War. New York: Atheneum, 1961.

zachary karabell

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Rome, treaty of

Rome, treaty of. Signed by France, Belgium, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on 25 March 1957, it established both the European Economic Community (EEC) and European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) from 1 January 1958. The EEC treaty set out objectives (such as eliminating mutual tariff barriers, establishing a common external tariff, and formulating a Common Agricultural Policy) to be achieved within twelve years and outlined the communities' institutions and rules. Britain stayed aloof, disliking the shared sovereignty implicit in the treaty's supranational institutions and expecting that the negotiations would fail.

Christopher N. Lanigan

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